First of all this plant likes it on the cooler side. My basement tents for several reasons have become much cooler than in the past. They now only get up to about 22 C during the light cycle and down to 15 C during the dark cycle. Humidity is very high ranging from 70% to almost 100% at night. I am using coconut husk chips with a little perlite as a substrate. I generally soak the substrate ever 7-10 days or so. Mites are kept under control by spraying periodically with PureCrop 1. Lighting is with indirect LED grow light fixtures. I will be the first to admit that providing these ideal conditions are going to be difficult or impossible for many people to provide, but use it as a guide to do what you can. It took me 12 years to get a plant that I could be proud of!

I have kept Hoya calycina ‘Stargazer’ for at least a dozen years now. It came from my good friend Julie Kennedy from Scotland. While I have had lots of great floral displays over the years from this plant, I have struggled mightily trying to have a healthy plant. The plant I believe is one of those Hoyas that is very susceptible to the ravages of the invisible flat mite. The midrib of the leaves with get ashen colored and the leaves would deteriorate and get sickly looking. I have had so many of these sickly looking plants over the years, that I have come very close to getting rid of the plant for good. The only thing that has stopped me is the insanely beautiful fragrance of the blooms. Tomorrow I will give my take on how to keep this one healthy. Below my beautiful specimen:

This plant literally just won’t stop flowering ever, and I can’t seem to stop myself from photographing it!

If you can find the dark flowered form of Hoya stenaokei, I urge you to pick one up. The growth is much more easily contained than H. stenaokei (NS12-222), and it is slightly more floriferous. I have to say that of all the plants in the Macgillivrayi Complex the one that has the best, strongest scent is Hoya macgillivrayi itself. So don’t buy this one for the scent, buy it for the spectacular flowers and easy care. I give it my highest recommendation!

This will be my last flower comparison photo for at least a little while.

These two make a handsome pairing!

The title says it all!

Both of these plants are in the Macgillivrayi Complex; here is a flower comparison; take note in the huge differences in the corona between the two, and note the lack of pubescence on Kaimuki.

I took the time this past October on an exceptionally warm day to bring the plant outside to photograph it. It was the plants first chance to feel the outside air as it has been grown completely artificially in a grow tent up to this point.

Besides the lack of pubescence, and the much slower growth habit of the dark flowered H. stenaokei clone, here are the few differences that a hobbyist like me can spot: The dark version has slightly larger flowers, drips more nectar, slightly different looking coronas, and seems more floriferous then NS12-222. Below the dark form of Hoya stenaokei: